Introduction

[Darrell]

Hey there! New to site but a leather craftsman for 30 years now. I had a shop and store in Los Angeles for nearly 10 Years before deciding I was losing the love of the art to keep a business afloat. I quit making my custom made moccasins for a living and went into the film industry and just do leather for the fun ,love, and art of it. O.K. sometimes I mix business and pleasure and make footwear and other things for the motion picture industry-but they really got to want it bad!

I look forward to chatting with all of ya'all. I have an Adler walking foot machine that I bought new when I got in the biz and it has served me trouble free for 30 years and nearly 3000 plus pairs of moccasins and resoles.

I use all heavy weight soft leather (8 oz. or so) Buffalo,Elk,bull,cow,deer,snake,pig,lizard etc. to create, soft, supple footwear. There are probably 50 or so of us (in this country) who all do a similar style of this footwear and through some strange leatherworker bloodline we are all related. Kind of akin to 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon (who I have worked with). From what I have seen already I am in the company of great and talented people with a vast knowledge base and can help me on my new endeavors.

[Don101]

Hi Darrell let me first welcome you to the forum and we are glad you found us, that is some very interesting stuff you are making there, when you say there are about 50 of you guys making this line of leather work its not many really when you think how big the US is, do post more pics of other projects, Don

[Beaverslayer]

Very beautiful work Darrell, the contrasting colors and the stitching is just wonderful. Thanks for sharing and welcome to the forum.

Ken

[abn]

Good to have you here, and thanks for posting your pics. I look forward to seeing more of your work!

Regards, -Alex

[Cora]

Hope you find everyone as interesting and informative as I do. Can't wait to see more of your work.

Cora

[rdb]

I've done that to my finger once or twice, only the picture had a bit more red in it...lol

Welcome, and we can't wait for more pix of your work.

[Warren]

Welcome and cool mocs!

[Randyc]

Keep posting the cool work!!

Randy

[Darrell]

Thanks all for the kind words, I really enjoy everyones posts on this site. The picture of my finger and the machine was to show how high the foot can go up-people often ask how much will it sew. I tell them it can sew all their fingers together. Lucky I have never got into that predicament.

[Daggrim]

Darrel,

As we say up here in Minnesota, oof-dah. That's some beautiful and inspiring work. I sell some leatherwork at Renaissance Faires, and just devoted November to learning to make turnshoes. So, I've made 7 pair, and they're all wearable, but I don't feel so cocky after seeing your work. There are about a dozen ideas I see in your pictures that I haven't even thought of yet! Love the antler buttons, but what are those other ones...petrified potato chips? Some of that looks like buffalo hide, too. Well...hate ya, dude . Not really. I see I'm in the appropriate niche here, charging $45 for a pair of really basic shoes. More pictures!

Daggrim

[Darrell]

Hi Daggrim, Thanks! The white buttons are antler as well. Called 'crowns',they are cross slices taken from the point at which the antler attaches to the skull. They are pretty pricey as you don't get but one or two per rack as opposed to dozens of the side cuts. I sold at Ren fests for years-that was and still is our biggest outlets for our moccasins. I am not active in this area of trade anymore but my old partners still are, and do very well. Good luck on your shoes as well!! I'll post more pics too.